


think there's a flaw in my code (I’m afraid somebody else might take my place)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: this could be good (love is patient, love is kind) [7]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers R.P.M.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, F/F, Gay Male Character, Gen, I seem to have a tendency to bring in relatives to become the green ranger, Identity Issues, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lesbian Character, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mind Control, Nightmares, Sensory Deprivation, Sibling Love, Siblings, Touch-Starved, Trans Male Character, Trans Ziggy Grover, Twins, Venjix Ziggy, Ziggy gets taken over by venjix, also Ziggy is gay, and Tenaya is a lesbian, bonding in captivity, but not the focus, first work of 2019, hope it sets a tone for good things to come, just saying, mostly in the final arc of the show, remix of canon, takes some canon elements and mixes them around, that is my headcanon that i will die on, this is the closest to third person omniscient that i'm ever gonna get, turns out that the show is nightmare fuel, well more of a team study, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-09-29 11:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17202608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: The first time they see Ziggy again, it’s on the battlefield.He doesn’t look drastically different. He’s still lean, still has that same messy hair, still has mostly the same face, but there are some differences that only Venjix could have done.His body is a bit more filled out. He’s dressed in a sleek black uniform with shoulder and knee armor that far more mirrors Tenaya’s than a Ranger suit. His posture is rigid, his body moving in an ordered fashion instead of his normal frenetic, distracted sort of way. And, most telling- his eyes glow silver, their familiar warm brown irises replaced by a metallic sheen.And then he attacks, and Summer can’t believe the change to the way Ziggy moves. He was good before- months of training had improved him from coward to fighter- but now he’s so much faster and stronger than before. Fighting him in his UnMorphed state is as bad as trying to combat Tenaya or Dillon in theirs. Perhaps even harder, because they're used to Dillon and Tenaya's strength but Ziggy is an incredibly different beast.(In which Tenaya knocked out Ziggy instead of taking him awake to Fresno Bob's. This changes a lot.)





	think there's a flaw in my code (I’m afraid somebody else might take my place)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkwinggirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkwinggirl/gifts), [PinkRangerV](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkRangerV/gifts), [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/gifts).



> Title is from "Gasoline" by Halsey and "Afraid" by the Neighbourhood.  
>  
> 
> So this story started out with the intent to write a story about Ziggy, who is my favorite character in R.P.M., but as this story progressed, it somehow became less about Ziggy specifically and more a story exploring the environment that created Ziggy Grover, a reluctant hero, and the team that surrounded him and how they interact with each other. It explores the effects of amnesia and mind control on someone's identity and how identity is very important within the context of the R.P.M. 'verse. 
> 
> There is maybe one scene from Ziggy's POV, if that, and I think it works for the story with its focus on the team as a whole. The alternating POV may get a little confusing at times, though, as the names of the characters switch depending on who's narrating.
> 
> There is also very little focus on Soulmates, for a Soulmate AU. There is some discussion of them, but when it comes to the important relationships and arcs, I think Soulmates only play a peripheral role in the story and its themes. Though there are a couple of moments in this story, it probably contains the least amount of romance of any fic in this series.
> 
> Also, there is a reference to my other Power Rangers series. Nothing important, but if anyone catches it I will be very happy.

_When is a monster not a monster?_

_Oh, when you love it._

**_-Caitlyn Siehl_ **

 

When the dust from the battle clears, Tenaya has retreated and everyone is a bit beaten up. After all, any battle that involves getting knocked out of a Morph is bound to end with the Rangers in an exhausted state.

“Okay,” Scott says, “Is everyone all right?”

“Wait a minute,” Summer says, “Where’s Ziggy?”

They glance around and they can't find him. That's not too strange, considering the number of times that Ziggy disappeared on them in their first months of knowing each other-

She rewinds that thought. The first few months, yes, he had disappeared occasionally, but with the exception of his first battle he has always waited until after their post-battle debriefings to go his own way. And there's also the fact that not in the past half year or so has he gone randomly missing on them, which is a warning sign in its own.

"Let's look around," Dillon says, and the slight concern in his voice means that he's picked up on the same thought that she has.

-

It's been half an hour and they can't find Ziggy, Tenaya, or the attack-bot. Scott's currently talking about their plans for the battle, and Dr. K's on a tangent about the Rail Saber.

Dillon, however, is hung up on something a bit more important. “Hang on a sec, what about Ziggy?"

"Operator series green is out of the equation," Dr. K says, "And his Morpher signal has gone dead."

“And we’re not worried about that?” Flynn asks.

“What do you suggest, we go door to door?" Dr. K offers, and in any other person Summer would think that she has sarcasm thick in her tone. Because it's Dr. K, though, Summer's pretty sure that the question is genuine.

“She’s as bad as the machines," Dillon spits, and though Summer wants to protest she can see the flicker of fear in his eyes. He's worried about Ziggy, probably even more than the rest of them are.

- 

After the battle, they find Ziggy's Morpher laying on the grass by Fresno Bob’s limo. Fresno Bob is later accounted for at a local safehouse with a few minor injuries, but Ziggy can’t be found.

This is when panic starts to set in.

-

The cartels have no news. They can't find a body anywhere. There are no traces of Ziggy's life signs in the biosphere.

There's a cold pit settling into Summer's stomach and she almost finds herself praying that Ziggy's death was swift and painless. Because the alternative...well, it's almost too horrifying to think of.

-

When Dillon sleeps, he can hear his sister's screams echoing in his ears. The world burns and bleeds around him, her hand slips from his, and he's left shouting her name into the void.

Now, he dreams of Ziggy by her side, his eyes gaping, blind blackholes, and Dillon can't save him either.

Dillon has become far too familiar with loss, with nightmares that end without any injury on his own body but the ones he loves being destroyed.

-

“We have to find a way to get the Green Morpher to work,” Scott says after a week of no news on where Ziggy is.

“We can't replace Ziggy,” Summer protests, then blinks. She's almost shocked by the strength of her own protest, the immediacy of how she responded.

“I know we can't, but we have to,” Scott says, “We have no other option. We have to find someone who can use the Green Morpher to protect Corinth until we find Ziggy.”

“But the Morphers are bonded to each of our unique DNA,” Flynn protests, “We _literally_ can't replace him.”

“Get his sister,” Dillon mutters, and Scott turns to Dillon.

“His _sister_? But we need the same DNA sample and it's not possible with someone of another gender-”

“His twin, you fuck,” Dillon grits out, leveling Scott with one of his _you idiot_ looks. “Meredith Anne Grover.”

“Oh, right,” Scott processes Dillon's initial statement again. He'd almost forgotten the body Ziggy was born with, the fact that Ziggy could have an identical twin out there who is no longer quite so identical in gender but with DNA that could trace similar enough. “If he has a twin sister, that could work until we get him back.”

Dillon rolls his eyes. “Tell me when you get her here- I'm gonna keep looking for Ziggy.” He leaves the main lab, leaving the rest of the team to stare after him.

“He's really attached, isn't he?” Flynn asks.

“They're both missing Soulmates, you know,” Summer says, “Ziggy's is dead and Dillon's is either nonexistent or gone as they haven't written since we met him. They could start dating after all of this is over.”

“Probably will,” Scott agrees.

Dr. K clears her throat and they all turn to look at her. “While you all were babbling about Soulmates and other such non-necessities,” she says, “I took the liberty of contacting Meredith Grover. She'll be on her way within the hour. I added an urgent coding to the message." 

-

The doorbell rings and Dr. K finds herself with six Rangers crowded around her security screens, trying to gain a look at the mysterious sister of Ziggy.

“Meredith Grover?” The woman offers, looking up at the camera. “The message from the Ranger Series Operators told me to come?”

Looking at Meredith is like looking at Ziggy through a funhouse mirror. The face is just a little rounder than Ziggy's, the cheeks a bit higher and the lips a bit fuller. She is wearing a black and grey skirt suit with black heels, an outfit that highlights the features that are different between the two Grover siblings. She has the curves and breasts that Ziggy lacks, and what translates as skinny and scrawny on Ziggy says slender on Meredith's figure. She's also far better put together than Ziggy, not a hair out of place in a braided bun and not a single wrinkle in her clothing- unlike Ziggy's messy hair and constantly wrinkled shirts.

“Bloody hell,” Flynn says, “She looks just like a female version of Ziggy.”

“It's almost like seeing him through a distorted mirror," Summer agrees.

Dr. K rolls her eyes at their comments, sighs, and opens the door to the garage. The rangers then all head out to meet Meredith.

Scott doesn't even get a chance to say a word before Meredith rolls a verbal truck over him. “With all due respect,” Meredith says, and her grin is dripping false sweetness, “What the ever loving fuck do the Rangers need that was made it necessary to drag me here during billing hours?”

“Definitely related,” Dillon mutters, because he can see a certain sense of bravado in Meredith that reminds him of Ziggy. Meredith, however, is sharper than Ziggy. Her words have more bite, are designed to pierce where Ziggy's were meant to alleviate a situation.

“It’s your brother,” Scott answers, and Meredith immediately swivels to stare at him.

“Ziggy?” she snaps, “What would the Ranger Operators need with _Zig_ -” Her words halt when she sees Dr. K. “You’re the girl that saved him from getting offed by the cartels a few months back.”

“How do you know that?” Scott asks, and Meredith glances back at him.

“Jonny from Ronin's Crew gives me access to all security footage from the building where the cartels meet so that I know what problems to take care of for my job.”

Her job- Scott makes a note to ask her about that as soon as they get her on the team.

Flynn, however, asks her: “Why didn’t you contact Ziggy if you knew he was back in the city?”

Meredith sighs. “I’m Fresno Bob’s main lawyer. If I contacted him, then I would have ended up on the list as well and thank you, but I'm not keen on dying.”

“Hold up,” Summer says, eyes wide, “You’re a lawyer for _Fresno Bob_?”

“Ziggy and I both got out through the cartels, we just got out different ways,” Meredith says. “If you know him and you’re not judging him for him being in the cartels, you can’t judge me. You’ve set a precedent and you’ve got to stick with it.”

Definitely a lawyer, Scott thinks. He's dealt with enough of them thanks to the political side of his father's job to recognize the argumentative skills. 

“Your brother is Ranger Operator Series Green,” Dr. K says.

Meredith’s eyebrow shoots up. “ _Ziggy_? The Green Series Operator? You’ve gotta be fucking with me.”

Dillon almost smiles when he says, “We're not.”

Meredith groans. “God, my brother’s an idiot. He came back to Corinth, knowing he had a hit on him, and became a Ranger Series Operator?”

“You knew he had a hit on him?” Flynn asks, “How?”

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “I visit the orphanage once a month to help out. Of course I noticed the medicine they had suddenly gained when a truck of same materials disappeared. Also, of course I knew he had a hit on him, you idiot, I work for the cartels that broadcast any hits between them like they're kids gathering candy.”

“Hey, don't speak to him like that,” Summer says, stepping forward slightly, “He's not an idiot.”

Scott tries to defuse the situation. He doesn't like Meredith insulting one of his Soulmates any more than Summer does, but they need her on the team. No use pissing her off before that even happens. “We need you to take over Ziggy's duties,” Scott says.

For the first time, Meredith’s sharp facade deteriorates for just a moment as her eyes widen with concern. “Is he dead?”

“We’re not sure,” Scott says, “He was captured by a Venjix attack bot and his Morpher ended up left behind. We’re searching for him, but in the meantime you’re the only one who can use his Morpher.”

“Why me?”

“The Morpher operates based on a genetic signature,” Dr. K explains, “That would ordinarily mean that it could only be used by a singular individual, but-”

“Because Ziggy and I were born identical twins the DNA should be similiar enough to work, despite his transitioning process,” Meredith finishes, voice sharp, and Scott nods.

Meredith's piercing gaze falls on Summer. “You- do _you_ really think that I'll just join your team on a whim, just because my brother did? If I joined the Rangers, I would be blacklisted by the cartels. Couldn’t show my face at my job ever again. Do you know how many years of work went into this job? I scraped and busted my ass in high school, undergrad, and law school. I was the youngest and best in my class.  If I join the Rangers, then all of that goes to waste. I wouldn't have a chance in hell of ever finding a job in my line of work for the rest of eternity." 

You're obviously smart, Meredith,” Summer says, “You know that if you don't join us, Venjix is going to win. We need the Rangers to stop him." 

“My brother's gone,” Meredith snaps, “You all didn't stop Venjix from doing that, did you?”

"You're right," Dillon says, "We didn't." She looks at him, gaze searching, and finds him staring right back. "We failed him. You don't want to fail him like we did, do you?"

She knows what he's trying to do- guilt-trip her- but despite her recognition of her efforts it doesn't mean that it's not working. The one thing Meredith cares about other than her own self-preservation is the protection of her brother. Her entire life, all she's had is him and her own strength.

Then Dillon gives her that one final push.

 

“Your brother didn’t want to be a Ranger at first, either,” Dillon says, and Meredith pauses.

"What?"

"He was scared of being a Ranger at first," Dillon says. "Said that it was too dangerous, that he wasn't ready for it. But he knew that he had to do it to keep humanity safe."

Meredith can't be sure if he's lying or not, but she does know one thing- her brother believed in this job. He believed it was worth sacrificing his life over, worth returning to Corinth for, worth risking the cartels' wrath everyday by going out and fighting.

Her brother can be a complete idiot sometimes, but she knows him like the world doesn't. Just because he has a skill for running and an aversion to conflict doesn't mean that he's a coward. He has a sense of right and wrong that he can't ignore as easily as she can, even after being wrapped up in the cartels since they were fourteen. He's always been strong in a way that she's not sure any of these Rangers are.

And Meredith's ignored him since that hit was put out just because she was too occupied with her own self-preservation to help him. Ziggy's gone and she didn't have a chance to say goodbye.

"Give me that Morpher," she says, despite her uncertainty and suspicion. "I won't like it, but I'll do it."

"Good enough for me," Scott says, taking the Morpher from Dr. K and handing it to her. "Welcome to the team, Meredith."

-

Meredith is a lot less talkative than Ziggy. She knows how to let silence rest, doesn’t crack bad jokes, thinks before speaking.

She’s not the best in a social setting. She can command the courtroom like it’s her own kingdom, but when it comes to the day-to-day, she knows that the most common term that people use to describe her is ‘bitch.’

And she knows they’re not wrong. It’s how she kept herself safe throughout childhood, how she made her way through college and law school as the poor girl from the orphanage.

She didn't take that Morpher to be a hero. She did it because she felt like she owed something to Ziggy, to the brother who spent their lives trapped in a body that wasn't his own, to the brother who has always been a bit too reckless and selfless for his own good.

The Morpher works, and Meredith can see the clear looks of relief on her now-teammates faces. They'd clearly been worrying about whether she'd be able to activate the Morpher or not, and if she's honest she'd been a bit worried as well.

Basic testing then goes...okay. They weren't expecting much from a lawyer who had spent the last few years at a desk or in the courtroom, and so the lackluster physical results are not too surprising. The only thinks she really excels at, in the end, are the tests for fast thinking and lack of panic. Years of working for the cartels has done something, after all.

But the team doesn't have a choice, and she knows it. She's the only person in the world who could possibly keep the Series Green suit going until they find Ziggy. The training is going to have to do its job in making her a better Ranger, because it's all they've got for now.

-

The first time they see Ziggy again, it’s on the battlefield.

He doesn’t look drastically different. He’s still lean, still has those same messy curls, still has mostly the same face, but there are some differences that only Venjix could have done.

His body is a bit more filled out. He’s dressed in a sleek black uniform with shoulder and knee armor that far more mirrors Tenaya’s than a Ranger suit. His posture is rigid, his body moving in an ordered fashion instead of his normal frenetic, distracted sort of way. And, most telling- his eyes glow silver, their familiar warm brown irises replaced by a metallic sheen.

And then he attacks, and Summer can’t believe the change to the way Ziggy moves. He was good before- months of training had improved him from coward to fighter- but now he’s so much faster and stronger than before. Fighting him in his UnMorphed state- because Meredith is inside of the Ranger Operator Series Green suit- is as bad as trying to combat Tenaya or Dillon in theirs. Perhaps even harder, if she admits to it, because they're used to Dillon and Tenaya's strength but Ziggy is an incredibly different beast.

(While the only one of them who truly remembers Tenaya is Dillon, and only in brief flashes, they all know Ziggy. The change in him is stark compared to the slight change from brown-suited Tenaya to black-suited Tenaya.)

“Ziggy!” Meredith practically screams at him, “Snap out of it!

“I am not Ziggy,” he says, normally energetic voice turned as robotic and lifeless as Tenaya’s, “I am Rajal 16, Venjix human infiltration attack bot. I am your thoughts and your minds. I am mankind's unconscious being. I am the final evolution of machine awareness-" 

“They got to him, too,” Flynn groans, stating the dreadfully obvious.

They don't really get a chance to commentany further, though, as Ziggy attacks again. He fights strong and and quick and hard, his gloved hands turned into deadly weapons. He and Tenaya operate as flawless team, movements matched and precision accurate in their blows.

While Tenaya has some semblance of a personality, Ziggy barely speaks. And that, perhaps, is the most striking thing of all, even above his speed and strength and appearance. Ziggy Grover is a man of many words, many arguably unnecessary, but at the end of the day his stream of language is comforting in its own way, a constant all of the Rangers have gotten used to.

To fight him and for him to dispense no one-two-three-liners, to not babble or joke or make half-understood quips, is unsettling in a way the worst of horror movies hopes to achieve but rarely does. The lack of words sends a shiver down the spines of the Rangers, Ziggy's teammates and friends and family.

And in the end, the battle ends without a single one of them landing a lasting blow on him. By the time the Megazord fight with the newest attack-bot is over, Tenaya and Ziggy have disappeared from the battlefield.

"Fuck!" Dillon shouts and punches a wall, the backs of his eyes burning. He can't ever remember crying, but he kind of wants to now. His sister and his best friend (and maybe he'd been hoping for a bit more than that, before Ziggy was captured and everything collapsed) are both controlled by Venjix now, and he couldn't do a thing to stop it.

-

As the only two hybrids on Venjix’s ship, Tenaya and Ziggy are housed in the same room at night. It’s only in this room, when the door triple-locks itself from the outside and the lights shut off, that they return to their own minds. It isn’t that the virus’ control stops- they can still feel it buzzing in the backs of their minds- it’s that Venjix diverts its energy from the control of their minds while they’re locked in this inescapable room.

While they're in here, Tenaya and Ziggy can remember who they really are. Their memories re-enter their brains, bringing back identities that no longer exist under sunlight.

Here, Tenaya becomes Lia, remembering a time before Venjix when she and Dillon were Jack and Lia Jackson. Rajal 16 becomes Ziggy, able to remember his sister and Dillon and the rest of the Rangers.

When they are outside- on the battlefield, in the control room, patrolling- their minds know nothing but fighting Rangers and serving Venjix. The hardware within them allows for nothing else. But here, at night, in the darkness, they can be themselves, and really, there is nothing else to do. There is nothing in their room save the bed, themselves, and their clothing. There is not even light, as they sit in such impenetrable darkness. There is nothing to entertain them save themselves and their voices.

“So they got a new Series Operator Green,” Lia says, shifting on the bed. Ziggy stretches out next to her. Their legs entangle, allowing them for some measure of sensory input and human touch. Human contact is hard to come by when you’re a hybrid, after all, and whatever they can get they’ll take. The contact also allows some measure of sensory input to keep from being deprived completely of sensory stimuli. “Aren’t the Morphers geared to your genes, though?”

“Didn’t you notice the skirt on the new Ranger Green? I’ve no idea how they convinced her, but I think they got my sister to do it.”

“But how would your sister be able to manipulate a Morpher geared to your DNA?” Lia asks.

Ziggy stretches back (well, as far as he can on the small bed that they have to share) and sighs. “I was born with a female body. I had an identical twin- Meredith- until I transitioned.”

Lia gives him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry you have to fight your family.”

“Ditto,” Ziggy says, and Lia thinks about the fact that she is sitting with her brother's Soulmate. She remembers Jack mentioning Ziggy Grover quite a few times over the course of her life, even back when Ziggy had a different (now dead) name. Ziggy had only confirmed it, their first night in here after his body had been converted, talking about how he'd suspected the relationship but hadn't yet gotten a chance to talk to Dillon about it.

And speaking of relationships: “So,” Ziggy says, voice a very deliberate tone lighter than before, “Do you think the new suit makes my ass look good?”

“Ziggy, you don't _have_ an ass,” Lia says with a giggle. "I've spent enough time fighting you while you're in skin-tight armor that I can see that."

Ziggy shrugs, giving her a crooked smile. “Dillon would probably disagree with you.”

Lia understands the desire to add levity into their situation. If they don't try to joke, to tease, then all they can focus on is despair of their plight. They know that tomorrow will find them back on the battlefield, their memories gone and their bodies and minds not their own.

“I'm sorry that you got dragged into this, got captured and all, but I want you to know that I am glad you're here with me,” Lia says, voice quiet, and she feels Ziggy's body shift by hers. A moment later she feels his hand on her shoulder, and she leans in a little, stretching a bit to place her own hand on Ziggy’s arm. She squeezes slightly, in some strange approximation of a hug.

“Me too,” Ziggy says, voice strangely quiet.

As Lia, all she has known is darkness. She remembers the light, the images and the colorful world, as Tenaya, but it's almost like a strange dream. When Ziggy speaks, reminding her of her brother and a world outside of the darkness, she starts to think that maybe she might be able to see the world as it is, through her own eyes. 

“I think you're my friend, Ziggy,” she says, his name comfortable on her lips.

“Can't get rid of me,” he says with a small chuckle, and though in another room, in the outside world, she is a general and a warrior, she snuggles in closer to him. He is comforting in a way that Jack used to be. “In fact, when we get out,” Ziggy says, voice a bit strained, a bit exhausted, “I'm going to show you a rainbow. You deserve a rainbow.”

“I'm looking forward to that,” Lia says, noting the exhaustion in her own voice and body. Venjix hardware can do a lot, but not keep the human body constantly running without a rest phase.

They fall asleep curled around each other, knowing that the morning will bring another war in which they will become nothing more than puppets. 

-

When Flynn can't sleep, he goes to the kitchen and stress-cooks. It's a habit that started years ago, before he and his dad even moved to the states, and one he's definitely continued over to the Garage.

The night after their first confrontation with Ziggy finds him cooking after he wakes up from a nightmare. A glance at the clock tells him that it's only three in the morning, but his brain can't bring itself to care.

Within an hour, he finds each of his teammates in the kitchen with him. First come Scott and Summer, as expected- when he woke up from the nightmare, he must have woken them up as well. When they enter the kitchen, they don't speak a word, instead just giving him gentle kisses before sitting down at the counter. They don't grab a book, don't reach for anything to entertain themselves- instead, they just sit there and watch him. He doesn't mind, and he knows the simple comfort that can come from just watching your Soulmate and knowing that they are alive.

Within a few more minutes, the three of them are joined by their other teammates. Meredith comes down next, an old law book clutched in her hand and dressed in a green sweatshirt, and plops down on the sofa without a word and continues to read. The twins practically fly down the stairs, chasing after each other before making their way to the other sofa opposite Meredith. Then comes Dillon, whose face for once actually reflects the lack of sleep he's getting. He sits downin the armchair in the middle of the sofas, leaving open the stool for Flynn for when he finishes cooking. Finally comes Dr. K, who ends up perched on the other end of the couch next to Meredith.

For a few minutes, Flynn finishes his cooking (and he'd made enough smoothies and pancakes for everyone, somehow having known that his whole team would end up here) and hands it out. In the meantime, though, no one really speaks. They understand the need for silence after such troubled dreams, after a night haunted by Ziggy's new, inhuman appearance.

(No one missed the way Dillon had hammered away at the punching bag with a force that had them questioning if he would rip it off of its chains, or the fact that when they'd finally gotten up to their rooms for the night sobbing could be heard from Meredith's room. Some things don't need to be spoken aloud.)

Meredith is the first to speak, once they all have their food, and her question has nothing to do with the battle yesterday. Flynn can't complain, though- his nightmares are bad enough without a verbal reminder of what happened to the previous Green Ranger.

“Did Ziggy ever find out what happened to Jack?” Meredith asks.

“Who’s Jack?” Flynn asks, because he’s never heard the name before.

Meredith raises an eyebrow. “His Soulmate. About a year older than the two of us.”

“Oh, he died,” Scott says, voice matter-of-fact but still a bit sympathetic. “Ziggy said his Marks disappeared.”

Meredith rolls her eyes. “I know that, _obviously_ , but I was wondering if he’d used your resources or anything to find anything more about how Jack died or maybe what happened to Jack’s sister.”

“Jack’s sister?” Dillon asks, interest piqued slightly despite himself. Yet another a mysterious sister, another unaccounted for family member.

Meredith nods. “Jack had a little sister named Lia, about three years younger than him. She was blind but really liked science." 

“Did you just say blind?” Summer asks, a hollow forming in her stomach.

Meredith nods and gives Summer a small smile, missing the way that Dillon pulls his lollipop out of his mouth and stares at her. “Jack wrote about his sister all the time, according to Ziggy. Ziggy said that Jack had three main cares in life: racecars, his sister, and old music. And I'm not just talking old music as in the 70s or 80s- no, I'm talking classical music and nursery rhymes. Ziggy always said that  _The Farmer and the Dell_ was his favorite."

“Bloody hell,” Flynn swears as all of the Rangers at the table turn to look at Dillon.

“You’ve gotta be fucking with me,” Dillon growls.

Meredith’s good mood disappears, the stress from the rest of the day flooding back in. “Fucking with you about what?” Meredith snaps. “I’m not going to lie about my brother’s Soulmate.”

“That idiot didn’t say a word,” Dillon says, something haunted in his eyes.

“I do believe he suspected and was planning to tell you,” Dr. K says, and he stares at her.

“What? How do you know?” He asks, voice sharp.

“He asked me if there were ways people lost Soulmarks other than death and he specifically brought up the effects of scientific experimentation on the Soulbond.”

“Can someone please tell me what the fuck is happening?” Meredith nearly shouts. She has little patience for ignorance, especially her own.

“Dillon is-” Gemma starts, grin seemingly incongruous to the tone of the conversation.

“Ziggy’s Soulmate,” Gem ends, grin matching his sister’s.

Meredith drops her fork and stares at Dillon. “But Jack’s dead. Ziggy stopped getting any kind of response two years ago. You’re clearly not-”

“Dead?” Dillon asks, but his gaze is still far away. “No, I’m not." He lets out a small sigh. “Tenaya’s my sister,” Dillon says, “She and I were taken and made into hybrids by Venjix and in the process had our memories erased. We tried to escape, but only I made it out.”

Meredith's expression softens slightly. “You lost your sibling and your Soulmate to Venjix,” she says.

Dillon is still trying to process everything that just happened, trying to compute the fact that Ziggy, bright and energetic and quite honestly a little shit with a heart of gold, is his Soulmate. But he does say, “So did you.”

“Welcome to the lost families club,” Scott says, and Meredith glances to him. Scott's expression is haunted, and she has a feeling that he has lost someone close to him, just like she and Dillon have. 

"We've all lost someone," Summer agrees.

Flynn nods. "Some of us before Venjix, some of us after. Our families are all missing people."

The world ended almost two years ago, and they are some of the only survivors left. It makes sense that all of them have lost people in the apocalypse that they're all trying to stave off the last of.

Meredith and Ziggy have always been orphans, but in this new world, everyone is an orphan in some way. Some have lost parents, some siblings, some their own children, some their entire families. They are clinging to some semblance of normalcy in a world where they will never truly have it.

“Our only family-” Gemma starts.

“-Is K and you guys-” Gem says.

“-And we love you a lot-”

“-Even you, Meredith-”

“-Yeah, you're like the cousins and siblings we-”

“-Never had-”

“-Except you, K-”

“-Because you've always been our best friend.”

Meredith barely knows these people, knows very little about the background between Dr. K and the twins other than that they're close and that they have some kind of bond through childhood trauma, but she recognizes claiming what little family you have as your own and holding them tight.

(She wonders if in the time since she saw him last, Ziggy became part of this family in the Garage. She kind of hoped he did, because he deserves people who love him. She just wonders if they accepted him as he was, loved him despite of everything wrong in his life.)

-

It's yet another battle and Dillon finds himself looking Ziggy straight in the eye through the visor of his Ranger suit. There, he finds no humor, no sympathy, just the cold glow of an attack bot.

Ziggy, far too human in all the best and worst ways, was never supposed to be the one taken by the Venjix. The virus is creeping its way through Dillon's limbs, through the machinery he's using to protect the world from Venjix. He's known that for ages. It was supposed to be him having his mind ripped from him, not Ziggy.

Ziggy- because Dillon refuses to refer to him as Rajal 16, not when Ziggy is the name he chose and the one Dillon, when he was Jack, must have called him- lashes out, hands going to Dillon’s head.

Dilon moves to intercept Ziggy’s movements, but he's not sure his emotions are entirely behind the motion that his body knows instinctively. He knows that a Venjix-controlled Ziggy, a hybrid with machine parts, will be near impervious to attack. He knows that he could put his all into fighting Ziggy and still probably not hurt him, considering the healing factor and enhanced strength that Venjix hardware gives him.

But his Ziggy- whether his Soulmate or the man he met in the middle of the desert, who threatened him with a car muffler and somehow managed to get Dillon attached to him within a day of knowing him- was so human, so delicate with his easily snapped bones and bruised flesh. Dillon can remember the night when the Venjix virus came close to taking him over, when he woke up with sparking wires in one hand and Ziggy's sprained wrist in his other.

 _Crash._ Pain stings Dillon’s eyes, and to his complete and utter shock he finds his visor- made of a glass substitute that Dr. K had declared bulletproof- smashed through by Ziggy’s fist in Dillon’s moment of distraction. If he was anyone save a hybrid, his eyes would be gone and he would be as blind as Tenaya had been before the Venjix.

Even so, his vision is blurry and his face is bound to be pockmarked by shards. He lashes out, limbs moving to hit Ziggy in a way that will take him down and probably even hurt him.

Ziggy is a hybrid, too. Dillon can't underestimate or go easy on him. His body is as dangerous a weapon as Dillon's is. In order to get Ziggy back, Dillon has to defeat him.

Then Dillon hears a grunt from another section of the battlefield and, quick as lightning, Ziggy is gone, running over to Tenaya. Dillon’s heart does something he can’t quite recognize, something ugly and painful, as he tries to blink the pain away.

Then the Venjix attack bot downloads into a much larger bot and Dillon finds himself in the Megazord, piloting alongside old teammates and new.

“You all good, Dillon?” he hears from Flynn, ever vigilant over the health of his teammates, as the Zords sync up.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says through gritted teeth. He has quick healing abilities thanks to the biofield and the enhanced Venjix hardware. The visor of his suit is the only thing he is really worrying about. Dr. K will have to fix that, as it's something Dillon's Venjix abilities can't do on their own.

Ziggy, on the other hand, is a problem that will take more than Dillon or Dr. K alone to fix. 

- 

When Scott lays down to sleep, a Soulmate on either side of him in bed, he tries not to think about everything that he's lost. Instead, he just focuses on the positives, like Summer's smile and Flynn's passion, both of them lighting up his days. He concentrates on the feeling of Summer curled into his side, her hair sometimes getting into his face, on the way that Flynn tends to splay out his limbs when he sleeps, draping his legs over Scott's. He focuses on how the three of them make such a strange but functional puzzle, balancing each other out perfectly.

But after days like today, when they have to fight the Venjix-controlled Ziggy and have to confront the ways in which Dillon lost his Soulmate before Ziggy even got to say a word, he can't help but dwell on the losses, the possible bad endings, rather than everything that's gone right.

Scott falls asleep to nightmares of Flynn and Summer with glowing red and silver eyes. He dreams of Summer's soft smile turned into a thin, emotionless line, of Flynn's lyrical voice made robotic and lifeless.

With so much wrong in this world, there is very little that actually scares Scott anymore. But this- the loss of his Soulmates to the virus that took his brother- terrifies him like nothing else. He can't admit it, for fear of being seen as a weak leader to the teammates who depend on him, but this fear is so real, so painful, it threatens to stop his heart if he thinks about it too much.

-

“Are you okay, Tenaya 15?” Rajal 16 asks as they run away from the Rangers and back towards Lord Venjix, and for just a moment, his words are soft. He is something far away from the soldier who just lashed out and harmed the Black Series Operator, a hybrid in his own right.

Tenaya knows that Rajal 16 was made from the imperfect body of the original green Ranger, that he used to be human. She has seen such a connection as a weakness, as a reason to hate humans who are lower and stupider than them.

For just a moment, though, she kind of likes the compassion. Her right knee aches from the last blow she landed on the Blue Series Operator’s helmet and her right shoulder is a bit sore from the blow the new Green Series Operator just landed on Tenaya herself.

“I suppose I should ask you the same thing, Rajal 16,” Tenaya says, gaze sliding to the gloved hand and the slight rip in his glove caused by punching through the Black Series Operator's visor.

Rajal 16 glances down at his hand and his shoulders roll in something approaching a shrug. “The skin is unbroken and the armor replaceable,” he says, voice shifting back to inhuman and robotic, and the moment of compassion is gone. Thus, her moment of weakness is as well.

"Let's go back to Master Venjix," she says, and he nods. 

-

Ziggy is steadfastly refusing to talk about the damage he delivered to Dillon on the field, instead focusing their conversation on escape and other things that could be achievable outside of their pitch black cell. Lia isn't pushing him to talk, either- she understands the desire to skirt around what you remember your own body doing when you had no control of it.

“You have a better chance to escape than me, when we’re out in the field,” Ziggy is arguing, “Venjix trusts you more than me, as you’ve been one of his generals since the beginning and I’m just a former Ranger Operator.”

Lia has gotten familiar enough with the tones of Ziggy’s voice to hear the small note of pain that entered his voice at the word _former_. “But I’ve already turned once before,” she points out, “Venjix could have a certain level of distrust and might be watching me more closely because of that.”

“Good point,” Ziggy says, “We probably have an equal chance at escaping. Which means we have to take it the chance to run, whoever remembers to take it first.”

“I’m not leaving you behind,” Lia says, voice firm, and she can feel Ziggy’s fingers moving across her knuckles in their gesture of affirmation.

“I know,” he says, “I don’t want to leave you behind, either. But if we want each other to get out, one of us has to get back to Dr. K and the Ranger Operators to find a solution.”

“So if we get the chance,” Lia says, “And we break through the virus enough to even vaguely remember-”

“-Run,” Ziggy says, “Run away, the first chance you get.”

“Find the Ranger Operators and your Dr. K,” she continues, “Take down Venjix, and rescue the other of us.”

His toes wiggle against her thigh and her lips curve into a smile. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

"Promise?" she asks, tapping her pinky finger against his, and she feels his pinky wrap around hers.

"Promise." Then their fingers untangle and he leans back slightly. "I also promise to show you my shadow puppets when we escape, don't worry,” Ziggy continues, and Lia smiles into the darkness.

“I'd love to see them.” She loves to see everything, now that she can. She wants to see rainbows, shadow puppets, Soulmarks, and, of course, her brother.

-

When their bodies collapse into sleep, there is only more darkness. Hybrids don't dream, a strange quirk of the machinery in their heads.

(But even if they did dream, how could your nightmares be anything worse than your waking reality, where your body is not your own and you often find blood on your hands from people you couldn't stop your hands from killing?)

-

Meredith dreams of childhood, of a time before Venjix arrived and the world became small. She dreams of a time when it was just her and Ziggy in the orphanage, innocent of crime and untouched by cartel life. 

(Something their teammates don't seem to realize is that Ziggy  _does_ know how to keep secrets. He learned that in the cartels, learned how to keep his lips shut even under the worst of pressures.)

In her dreams, they are eight years old. Ziggy is tiny and quick and excited about everything. He babbles about whatever comes to his mind, dragging her along on a number of adventures. His eyes are unguarded, his smile bright, his words careless. He takes delight in everything, and in turn, so does she. 

But at the end of every dream, Ziggy's eyes turn silver and he collapses over, choking on his own blood as one of their teammates shoots him from behind. She is left screaming her way into consciousness, where she finds her face buried into a pillow with her sweaty hair plastered to her face.

Why did she sign up for this, again? Her brother, from the way her teammates talk about him, was a pretty damn good Ranger. Why did she think that she, a lawyer, could possibly do what the man who had the bravery to steal the biggest payload ever from all five cartels failed at doing?

-

“I know I'm not Ziggy,” Meredith says to Summer and Dr. K in the middle of training, when she can't stop from dwelling on the way that Dillon keeps staring at her suspiciously and the fact that she's slower than everyone else in battle and her training seems to be going so slowly- “I'm not the perfect Series Operator Green.”

Summer snorts. “Do you really think Ziggy was?”

Meredith shrugs. “I have to admit I _did_ wonder, knowing my brother and his tendency to run from, well, anything, but the way you all talk about him…”

“He didn't start out as a great Ranger, or even a good one, and we doubted him at first. But he trained, and he proved us wrong.”

"That's Ziggy for you," Meredith says, "Always subverting expectations."

Summer nods. "So if you're feeling down on yourself, don't. You're obviously doing your best, and we get it. We made a mistake doubting our first Green, and we're trying not to do it again."

Meredith thinks for a moment, and then: "Did all of you really not believe in him at first?" Because she has seen the way that Dillon talks about her brother, not a shred of doubt in his tone, and she wonders if maybe he had a closer, stronger belief in Ziggy than the rest of their teammates did.

Summer shakes her head. “Dillon believed in him from the beginning," she says, looking over at the Black Series Operator on the other side of the room, where he is talking to Gem and Gemma about something. It is in rare moments like this, when Dillon is unguarded, that Meredith can see the reasons why Ziggy might care for this gloomy hulk of a man.

"That's what Soulmates do," Meredith says, and Summer stares at her for a minute.

“I just realized- we never asked you about your Soulmate. Do you have one?” Summer asks, and her question seems sincere as well as a welcome respite from the strange, far too quickly developing bonds of family. Meredith has spent her entire life with just her and Ziggy as their small little family, orphans against the test of the world, and to be claimed so quickly is cognitively dissonant to her entire life.

“I did,” she says with a small sigh. “Alicia Alvarez Akita. She lived in Panorama City. We had been planning on meeting two weeks after the initial Venjix attack happened.”

“Panorama City has a small safe area,” Dr. K says, suprisingly sociable in this moment. Summer’s not quite sure why- maybe it’s the shock of losing Ziggy, despite her professed lack of feelings for the Green Series Operator. “A small radio frequency, broadcasted once a week, is noted on my systems. I suspect it’s because of the Shiba family legacy of power in the area.”

Meredith is a logical thinker, not one for risks. Ziggy was always the one who leaped before thinking, who had a strange brand of selfless courage that left him to make self-destructive decisions. She always thought carefully, planned every move and only moved after figuring out her opponent’s weaknesses. She’s not going to go running out of this city, chasing after a far-flung hope. But when the war is over, when Venjix is defeated, maybe then…

Then Meredith's hopes short themselves when she remembers the fact that Alicia hasn't written in two years. Even if her friends and family may be alive, she probably isn't.

She'd rather focus on her brother and helping him.

-

When all the boys on the team collapse and Dr. K and Gemma end up having to brew an antidote for half of the city, Meredith and Summer return to the common area of the garage to take care of the boys' unconscious bodies. 

“My idiots,” Summer says fondly, seeing how Flynn and Scott collapsed to the ground holding hands.

"You could definitely say that," Meredith says, and Summer rolls her eyes.

"Help me prop them all up against the wall while Dr. K starts work on the antidote," she says, and Meredith nods and gets to work. She leaves Summer's Soulmates to her and takes Gem and her brother's Soulmate. She notes how soft all four men look in their unconsciousness, the way all of their faces have slackened from their usual seriousness into something almost...well, innocence is a concept that Meredith hasn't known since the earliest days of childhood, so she's not sure she could call it that. Relaxation would probably be the more apt term to use.

“Thanks for the help,” Summer says to Meredith with a smile as they head back into the lab, and Meredith returns the expression.

She looks to Dr. K, though, and her smile falters. The small doctor has a look on her face that reads just a bit more pained than usual, and Summer has a suspicion that it's unrelated to the antidote currently brewing on the counter next to them.

“What's wrong, Dr. K?” Summer asks.

“I wasn't fast enough," she says quietly, in a tone that almost makes Summer think that it's a thought she didn't mean to speak aloud. 

Meredith's brow furrows. “When? Today? You sent the Zords at the perfect time earlier with Tenaya and Ziggy and your antidote seems to be brewing right on time."

“The day Ziggy was taken,” Dr. K says, and something in Summer cheers at the fact that Dr. K finally said his name. Another part of her, though, focuses on the dejected look on Dr. K's face. For a moment she is reminded of just how young Dr. K is. She can't be a year over seventeen and yet has never had any childhood to speak of, spending her formative years in the Alphabet Soup. She had never been allowed to make a mistake, and the one that she did make destroyed the world. 

“None of us were quick enough to rescue him from Tenaya," Summer says, "And it's not your fault. Besides, we have Meredith, right? We have our Ranger Green."

"I don't think I mean as our Ranger Operator Series Green," Dr. K says, and her tone is the most vulnerable either woman has ever witnessed it. “He is my friend,” Dr. K says, and Summer has some idea of how hard it is for her to say that. “And I never told him that.”

“When we get him back, tell him then,” Meredith says, speaking as bluntly as usual, and while Summer naturally avoids speaking in such a way, preferring a kind tone, she thinks that Dr. K appreciates Meredith’s way of speaking. Then Meredith turns back to the antidote. "Alright, how far along is the antidote?"

"80%," Gemma says, finally rejoining the conversation. Meredith wonders where Gemma went for the last seven minutes, considering the fact that she knows that Gemma started work on the antidote with Dr. K.

-

That night, Summer ends up in the bathroom after a particularly vicious nightmare, hacking up vomit. She had dreamed of returning back to the Garage after the fight and finding Scott and Flynn dead instead of unconscious, the chemicals that had infected them slowly eating away at their skin from the inside. Summer's pretty sure that she'll never be able to forget the image of their rotting faces.

It only takes a minute before her boys are in there with her, Scott holding back her hair and Flynn rubbing her back. After the vomit ends, she wipes her mouth with a towel Flynn hands her as Scott slips her hair back into a loose ponytail with a hair tie. She then finds herself leaning back against Scott, who presses a small kiss to her forehead. Flynn moves back slightly to lean against the wall of the bathroom, still keeping a hand on her shoulder, and after a moment she and Scott scoot back as well until they're all sitting against the wall, Summer leaning her pounding head against Scott's shoulder and holding hands with Flynn on the other side.

Dillon and Ziggy's bond was strained and interrupted by Venjix. Meredith's Soulmate died. Dr. K's never mentioned one, nor have Gem and Gemma. Within the team, theirs is the only Soulmate relationship that ever came to be and, of course, is currently functioning.

"I'm so glad you guys are still here," Summer says, and she doesn't have to explain all of her meaning behind it.

"We're glad you are too," Flynn says, because he understands.

Scott does, too. "We're really lucky," he says, and she thinks about death and the way it can either creep in like a attack-bot's mist or strike like an explosion or a crashed helicopter, taking out a life in a single moment. Humans are so fragile, lives waiting to be cut as easily as she can snap a piece of dental floss.

Her boys are sitting on either side of her, warm legs and torsos pressed against her, and in this moment she is reminded of despite how strong they are, they are only one wrong move away from an easy death. Everyday they charge out into battle, intent on protecting the city, and every day one of them might not return home. There is always a chance that there will be an empty spot on the bed, a hollow suit in the lab, a primary color unused in the closet.

But they are comfortable with the inevitability of death. They have to be, with the job they've chosen. The only ways out of being a Series Operator are the defeat of Venjix or the Operator's death.

"How about we go be lucky on the bed instead of on the bathroom floor?" she offers and she is gifted with two smiles as she and her boys stand up from the floor.

"Thought you'd never ask," Scott says.

Death may be inevitable, but she is going to relish every single moment she gets with her Soulmates.

 

-

In this moment, between the cacophony of battle, Tenaya can hear two different voices in her head, and for once, neither of them is Venjix’s.

She can hear the Green Ranger screaming as he is made into a hybrid, can hear her brother being torn away from her, see a thousand humans shouting as they die.

 _“I'm coming back for you_ ,” Jack shouts as Rajal promises, “ _Run away, the first chance you get_.”

With only a single glance back in the direction of Rajal and the Grinders, she runs. She runs toward the Rangers, toward safety and escape. She runs to find a solution, to find answers, to find a way to get the buzzing out of her head and get Rajal out of Venjix control.

She hears Rajal shout after her, but he’s so different than the voice in her head, far too much like Venjix for her to listen, and so she keeps going.

She has a Ranger base to get to and a doctor to find. 

-

But before she has a chance to talk to the Rangers' doctor, the apocalypse violates the shields of Corinth.

The end of the world is here. Venjix has activated the hybrids, Gem and Gemma have been deleted, Dr. K has been captured by Venjix-Ziggy, and Tenaya… Tenaya is at the base with what remains of the team.

It's just the five of them in the base- Meredith, Scott, Flynn, Summer, and Tenaya. Dillon is gone and so are some of the antidotes, Dr. K is captured, and of course, Ziggy hasn't been here in months.

Tenaya has escaped, but Rajal is still in the tower, doing Venjix's bidding.

Tenaya doesn't know the Rangers and a large portion of her programming wants nothing more than to take them out, but she has self-control. She trusts the voice of Rajal in her head, the kind one she can only vaguely remember. So instead of attacking the Rangers as they stand here in their base, helmetless and vulnerable, explaining their names and a quick summary of what they can do.

“We have to save Rajal from Venjix,” Tenaya says quietly, “I’m not going to fight for you without him.”

“Call him Ziggy,” Meredith orders, voice strained but hard. Her tone brokers no argument. “He was called the wrong name for far too much of his life- call him the right one, please. He deserves that. Call him Ziggy, because that's _his fucking name."_

Tenaya looks Meredith straight in the eye and something is exchanged between them, the hybrid with uncertain memories and the cartel lawyer. They both have iron in their bones, though a very different sort of iron, and a very desperate, protective sort of love in the veins. “Ziggy,” Tenaya says, the syllables of his name falling over her lips in a smooth and familiar way, as if she has said the name many times before. “We have to save _Ziggy_. I won't let him die in there.”

“Neither will we,” Scott says.

“You promise?” Tenaya asks, an edge entering her voice. “Because I promised him I'd escape, and I promised I'd be back for him.” She frowns, and mutters, “I'm not sure how I remember that.” Then she straightens in her seat and looks up at the Ranger Operators. She knows that they want the same thing she does, or at least that their efforts will yield similar results. “Give me a way to rescue Ziggy and I'll take it.”

“Good,” Summer says, offering her a smile. "Thank you."

There's nothing to thank, Tenaya doesn't say. She _has_ to do this.

“Dr. K’s notes say that she left behind a virus that can counteract Venjix,” Flynn says, and Tenaya’s eyes widen in fear.

“I’m going to have to go back in, aren't I?”

Summer nods and Tenaya thinks of Rajal- of _Ziggy-_ of what she can remember of him. There is, of course, her few memories of fighting the Green Series Operator when it was him, frenetic in his movements but faster than nearly any Ranger. She remembers the last she saw of him in the light, before he became a hybrid. She had dragged him from the battlefield, his human limbs not strong enough in their unMorphed form to compete with her Venjix strength.

She remembers what it is like to fight by his side as a general and her attack bot, to be able to anticipate his every move as they were programmed for the same mission. She knows how his limbs can become weapons, can harm even hybrids and attack bots with the machinery implanted in his flesh.

She remembers, most distantly, the whisper of a voice in the middle of the night, a friendly touch in the dark, a promise made with a strong voice but a trembling hand to her arm. They are vague memories, hazy along the edges unlike the way her battle memories are stained sharp in her mind, but it is those few sensory memories that stand out to her. After all, they speak the truth as to who Ziggy really is.

“Give me the virus,” she says, despite her apprehension at ever again coming in contact with a virus. She made a promise to a friend, and she intends on keeping it. “I can do this. Let's go save Ziggy and my brother.”

The Yellow Ranger gives Tenaya a smile as Scott begins instructing the team. “You go into the Palace first, and then the four of us will fight on the ground to save the civilian populace. Meredith- you can get in contact with the cartels, see if anyone's still there who can fight. Summer- you go cover the factories in the northern sectors, make sure none of the hybrids get hurt and keep any attackbots away from civilians. Flynn- you cover the Southern sectors. Tenaya- when you're done uploading the virus to the main matrix, you can go after Ziggy and bring him back. I'm going to go for Venjix himself."

"Alone?" Flynn asks, and Tenaya can sense a sort of frustration to his tone.

Before he has a chance to comment, though, the communicator on their Morphers switch on. “Anyone there?”

"Never been so happy to hear your grumpy voice in my life," Scott says.

"Same to you," comes the voice of the Black Ranger, a voice she almost recognizes.

“Well, we’re going to infiltrate the Venjix palace,” Scott says. 

“I'm going to carry the virus in," Tenaya says, "And then I'm going to save Ziggy." 

“Tenaya?” The Black Ranger gasps.

"Yeah, I'm right here," Tenaya says. "And who are you?"

"Dillon," The Black Ranger replies, and his voice is a bit strained.

"Any news?" Summer asks Dillon.

Dillon's voice shifts into a more mission-oriented one. “I've got eyes on where they're keeping Dr. K."

"Get her out while Tenaya is working," Scott instructs.

"I'll get Doc out, then if Tenaya hasn't found Ziggy I'm going to go find him and get him out," Dillon says.

"Thank you," Tenaya says, and she means it.

"And Scott," Flynn says, "Summer and I are going to fight by your side. We're not splitting up and letting you go in alone."

Summer nods. "You're a great leader, but it's not just you on your own, okay? The three of us are a team."

"Yeah," Summer says, "You're not doing this without us."

Scott's a leader. He's used to hard decisions. He's spent the last two years since his brother's death making hard decisions, sending his team into battle knowing this could be the last one. He'd thought he'd gotten used to the idea of sending his Soulmates to their possible deaths.

But this is the final battle, and it's against the greatest robot they've fought yet. Venjix is above and beyond a single attack bot- he is the great virus itself, the force that is responsible for the death of billions. Venjix is the reason why Dillon can't trust his own mind, why Scott's brother is dead, why the Garage seems so quiet because Ziggy isn't there. He is the reason why Scott has lost so much.

Scott watched his brother die, and he has already lost one teammate on the battlefield and another before the war even began- he can't lose his Soulmates as well.

"I can't lose you," Scott says.

"We can't lose you either," Flynn says, "But we're Rangers. It's our job to risk our lives."

"We signed up to be Rangers just like you," Summer says, "We chose this. Don't choose this moment to go sending us off because you're all of a sudden being the selfless hero. We're a team, you idiot."

"Have I ever mentioned how much I love you two?" Scott asks, and Meredith snorts.

"Far too many times," she says, "Now, are we going to go save Corinth?"

"One last time," Scott says, "For everyone we've lost."

Brothers, Soulmates, friends- all the names and faces rush through their heads. Marcus Truman. Andrews. Alicia Alvarez Akita. Ziggy Grover. Gem. Gemma. 

This is their last chance for justice and their last chance to save the world as they now know it.

"It was an honor to fight with you all," Meredith says, and raises her hand to her face. For a moment, she locks eyes with each of her teammates, ending with Tenaya. "Good luck." Then she flips the switch on her Morpher, shouts, " _R.P.M.! Get in gear!"_ and then Morphs before running out the door to the Garage.

"And then there were four," Flynn mutters.

"Flynn, let's get Tenaya that countervirus," Scott instructs, "Then the rest of us will head out." 

Flynn, Summer, and Tenaya nod, and Scott takes a deep breath. This is it.

-

When Tenaya gets to the main control room, all she finds is humans and Venjix-Ziggy. The humans she deals with easily, but Ziggy is another story. 

“Come with me, Ziggy, please,” Tenaya says to Ziggy, and he blinks at her, eyes widening in confusion.

“Who is Ziggy?” he asks, but there is a note in his voice, under the robotic tone of Venjix, that speaks to his uncertainty.

“My friend,” Tenaya says, and knows it to be true. Ziggy stares at her. He then raises a hand, and for a moment she smiles, reaching out to take it, and then it snaps forward, ramming into her shoulder, and she knows it not to be a sign of peace but rather a weapon. She raises an arm and is thrust into, perhaps, the worst fight of her life.

It looks like she'll have to wait a few moments to get to the main control panel. She hopes the Rangers can last that long without Morphing.

Fighting Ziggy is not something that she ever thought she would have to do, but from what she can remembers- scattered thoughts, whispered words, the heat of battle- she's not sure there is any other way this could have ended. Not when Ziggy's eyes are glowing like that, silver casting a robotic sheen over his true intentions.

He fights like a machine, pulling no punches, every action a deadly blow. He fights like she did, when she was a Venjix general, when she didn't feel so disgustingly, achingly human. If she was anything save a hybrid, she knows she would have fallen. He's too strong, too fast, too inhuman. Venjix took the parts of Ziggy that were beneficial- his speed, his agility- and enhanced them, only adding elements that would make him stronger.

But the thing about fighting like a machine is that he has a certain set of programmed movements, a certain pattern to his blows, and while Tenaya's programming can analyze his moves her human mind- her creativity- can think of ways around the programming's preferred patterns.

“I'm sorry,” she says, and she presses on his Venjix weak point- the spot on his inner elbow- and he tumbles to the ground in a graceless heap, cut to the ground like a puppet with its wires cut.

She feels no remorse as he falls. The spot can only be activated by someone with active Venjix technology inside of them, and she's willing to use the hardware she has programmed into her in order to save him.

Now that she has five minutes, she can download the virus and hope that Dillon rescues Dr. K in the process.

-

When the ship blows up and Ziggy and Lia stumble out of the wreckage, they are met with a rush of memories to their minds.

“Oh my god,” Ziggy says, staring at his own hands as he flaps them about. “I'm back. They must have done it!”

Lia gives him a small, raw smile. “I remember who I am. The countervirus must have destroyed the virus."

Ziggy flings himself forward and wraps his arms around her. She laughs at the contact and the memories and the bright light around them. They are outside and they _remember_. “We escaped! And you're the one who did it! You brilliant, wonderful woman!”

“I didn't do it all on my own, though,” she admits, but she doesn’t think that Ziggy much cares in this moment.

“Ziggy? Tenaya?” an all-too-familiar voice asks, and they break away to see Dillon- or Jack, for the oldest of memories- standing there, dirt streaked on his face. He is smiling brilliantly at both of them, and something in Lia’s heart lurches.

“Lia,” Lia corrects quietly, even as she pushes forward Ziggy towards his Soulmate. Instead of stepping forward, though, he grabs her hand, refusing to let go. By their count of the nights, they've been stuck together with only each other for comfort and support for over four months now. To see another human, even one so close to their hearts as Jack/Dillon, is strange and almost overwhelming. Ziggy isn't sure he's willing to let go of the one person who understands the dark room. Lia understands completely. Despite wanting him to see Jack again, the idea of being separated from Ziggy is a hard one to compute.

“Your sister's worried about you,” Jack says, and she’s not sure who he’s looking at. She’s assume Ziggy because she and Jack have no sister, but the way he says it, it’s kind of like he’s speaking about his feelings about her.

“You’ve met Meredith?” Ziggy asks.

“She _is_ our Green Series Operator,” Jack says.

“Yeah, speaking of which, you let _Meredith_ become the new Green Series Operator after I was gone?”

“She did a good job of it,” Jack says with a shrug. “Probably better than you.” Ziggy lets out an indignant squawk, but Lia can hear the teasing tone in Jack's words.

"She did hold our own against us," Lia says, "And  _her_ visor never got shattered, right?" Her attempt at levity works about as well as Ziggy's normal attempts do- that is, not at all- but it does provide her an entry into the conversation.

"It didn't," Ziggy agrees, voice a little strained as he glances at Jack. Jack, however, doesn't seem too shaken by the reminder of what Ziggy did when controlled by Venjix, probably because he understands, at least a little, what it's like to wake up to find out that your body did something your mind didn't agree with. 

There's a loud rush of voices and in from around the corner come all of the rest of the Rangers, including Dr. K, Gem, and Gemma. Ziggy and Lia both flinch at the sound of the shouts, but then they glance at each other and smile. The world outside is going to take some getting used to, especially to their wrecked senses, but it'll be okay. They're human again, albeit humans with superhuman strength and a complicated internal structure, and they have the whole world to explore together. 

“Ziggy!” Meredith shouts, and Ziggy sees his sister. She looks a bit different than he last saw her, with her hair in a loose ponytail rather than up in its usual bun. Her skin is streaked with ash and dirt, something she never would have allowed when he knew her. (And it is definitely strange to see her helmetless head emerging from the top of the Ranger Green uniform.) 

She is smiling, though, and that says something. The last time Ziggy saw Meredith smile so freely, they were eight years old and had yet to even hear of the cartels.

“I'm back!” he says, waving his free hand, and all of his former teammates smile when they see him.

“It's good to have you back," Summer says.

"Yeah," Gem begins.

"-We missed-" Gemma continues.

"-You, Ziggy."

Ziggy grins at them. "Missed you too, guys."

“Wait a moment,” Flynn says, raising an eyebrow at their clasped hands. “Are you two...a thing?”

Ziggy's expression is rather comical. His jaw drops and he just stares at Flynn for a moment before saying, “Flynn, I'm gay as _fuck._ ”

“And besides, he already has his eye on someone else,” Lia says, looking at her brother, and Jack blinks. When Lia glances back to Ziggy, his cheeks are almost the color of Scott's Ranger uniform. When she looks to Jack, he is actually smiling fondly at Ziggy. 

“Let's go back home,” Ziggy says, “I've gotta show Lia some shadow puppets and rainbows, and both of us have got to find some more comfortable clothing.”

“I'm not arguing with the current outfit,” Jack says, looking rather pointedly at Ziggy's butt.

Ziggy smirks at Lia. “Told you, didn't I?”

“I'm not, either,” Gemma says with a not-quite-innocent smile as she looks at Lia, and heat rises to Lia’s cheeks.

Lia's never had any Soulmarks to look at or look forward to, and now that she is no longer controlled by Venjix, so many possibilities are open to her. Why not try something new?

"Let's go back home," she says, and she doesn't mean New Tech City, where she and Jack came from. She means Ziggy and Jack's garage, described in vivid detail by Ziggy during the night. She squeezes Ziggy's hand, and for the first time she can see his fingers as they squeeze back.

-

A couple of weeks later and things have mostly settled in a bit.

The rangers, Ziggy, and Lia have helped with much of the cleanup from the final confrontation with Venjix over the past couple of weeks, and for the most part, life has been pretty good. Ziggy has slipped back into the team pretty well, with only a few awkward moments. The team is rather grateful to have his babbling, somewhat grating humor back, despite the occasional annoying joke.

Lia, despite her hesitation due to her lack of familiarity with the team, also is doing pretty well. Ziggy and Dillon (who is keeping the name he chose for himself, rather than the name he doesn't remember) both are making an effort to help her adjust to life in Corinth, but in the end she's doing pretty well on her own, though.

She works really well with Gem and Gemma, who make the explosions that she used to calculate in Physics class back in New Tech City. It's really cool to get to finally see the explosions with her own eyes that she only got to learn through braille and sounds as a teenager. It's reignited the passion for science that she had before the world ended, when she still lived a normal though sightless life.

(Explosions are also a kind of science that can be stripped from computers, or at least a kind of science that can be divorced from computer viruses. The tech stuff she can leave to Gem and Gemma to work with, while she deals with the chemicals and the equations. The two weeks she's spent working with Gemma has been plenty fun.)

The one thing that's been tripping up Ziggy and Lia, though, is sleep. Though it only took a day or two for Lia and Ziggy to be comfortable with separating into different rooms while awake, they quickly found that they could not sleep without each other. The darkness of night was too much like that of their cell, and the fear that comes from being alone is only alleviated by the usual physical stimuli.

That makes Ziggy and Dillon's relationship a bit complicated, but things between them have never been simple, so why start now?

Now is the day for the team to finally turn in their Morphers and go their separate ways. Over the past couple of weeks of clean up, they have all made plans and ended up splitting up into their own small groups.

Scott, Summer, and Flynn have already signed the papers for an apartment for the three of them to share. Scott is taking control of Eagle Squadron, Flynn and his dad will be working on new computer systems for the city, and Summer is working with Dr. K and Meredith on starting a school and support system for the orphanage. 

Meredith will continue to stay in her rooms in the Garage along with Gem, Gemma, and Dr. K. Gem and Gemma are joining Eagle Squadron, where they will get to blow things up their minds' content and get paid for it.

And last but not least- Lia, Ziggy, and Dillon are heading out into the world. They have a vague goal in mind- New Tech City, where Lia and Dillon are from- but the journey is one that they'll figure out along the way. Ziggy and Lia both remember more about the past than Dillon, as their newer operating systems don't include permanent memory suppression, and they're going to be sort of guides. None of the three of them have full accounts of New Tech City, due to Ziggy only knowing it through his Marks and Lia from when she was blind, but they have enough. And besides, they're not going to search for a world long gone. They're going to be looking for new life and new adventures, looking for themselves as much as the world around them.

(The three of them have had their minds split, have lost control of their bodies and had their brains carved away at. This journey is one where they will learn how to live their own lives, to feel comfortable in naming their bodies their own again.)

They all gather in front of Dr. K and her Morpher case. They're all dressed in their leather jackets and color-coded clothing, a welcome change for Ziggy and Lia over the past couple of weeks. Being out of their Venjix uniforms and in normal clothing- his old green shirts and black jeans for Ziggy and white shirts and blue jeans for Lia- is comfortable and definitely more human than the armor they wore for so long.

One by one, they all step forward and place their Morphers into the case. First the trio, then Dillon, then Meredith and then the twins. Lia and Ziggy stand by each others' sides and watch as they all return the Morphers with an air of finality.

Lia glances to the side and watches Ziggy's gaze as Meredith puts away the Green Morpher. It has been ages since he was the Green Series Operator, since he last wore the Morpher on his wrist, but he must be feeling some sort of nostalgia over it. He has told her about his initial reluctance to become the Green Series Operator, but also about his pride in being a Ranger. It must be strange for him to see his sister being the one to retire the Morpher.

Then, when they're all tucked away, Dr. K shuts the case, closing a chapter in the lives of the series operators.

"No more series operators," Summer says, a note of melancholy in her voice.

"Time for the next stage in our lives," Scott says, slinging an arm around each of his Soulmates' shoulders.

"It's going to be bloody amazing," Flynn agrees.

Dillon nods. "And it's time for us to go."

"Go where?" Dr. K asks.

"Anywhere," Lia and Ziggy say in unison. Easier reading of each others' likely answers- a quirk of their shared time together that is probably not going to end soon, but not one that is too uncomfortable. 

"Good luck, my favorite idiot brother," Meredith says, stepping forward to give Ziggy a hug.

"You too, my beautiful bitch of a sister," Ziggy says, nothing but love in his tone.

She steps back and gives him a smile. "You know it," she says. "Have fun out there. Find something great."

"You do well with Dr. K," he says. "And when you're done with the school, maybe you'll be ready to head out and go looking for answers."

It's going to be a long time before Meredith feels ready to leave Corinth to go searching for answers about Alicia's death. For right now, she's just going to use her law skills to protect the orphans and help out Dr. K. Maybe someday, after everything's been sorted out here in Corinth, she'll feel ready to let go. But until then, she's just going to work on her own life here, rather than chasing a ghost.

"Well, goodbye, Dillon, Lia, and Ziggy," Dr. K says, and everyone turns to stare at her after the last name. "What?" she asks, "He's not a series operator anymore. He's my friend, and Ziggy will suffice as a name to call him."

ZIggy grins. "Aw, Dr. K," he says, "I knew you cared."

She gives him a look. "I much prefer your sister, if I'm being honest, but you  _are_ a good friend."

Summer exchanges a look with Scott and Flynn. That's certainly an interesting relationship to return to in the coming weeks.

"Comm me," Gemma says to Lia, grin bright, and Lia blushes. Scott raises an eyebrow, but Dillon understands.

"I'll try," Lia says to Gemma, "After all, who knows what kind of explosions I'll find out there?"

"None as beautiful as you," Gemma says before she reaches out a hand and brushes her fingers over Lia's for just a second before skipping back off to Gem. Lia turns and climbs into the backseat and Ziggy follows behind her, sliding into his old seat in the passenger's side, up front next to Dillon. 

Ziggy turns back to Lia, but she just says, "Don't say a word about it," for a moment sounding just as grumpy and aloof as her brother, and Ziggy laughs.

"I'll just ask later," Ziggy promises.

"You're only allowed to after you find me a rainbow," she says, and Ziggy gives Dillon a pointed look as Dillon starts the car.

Dillon rolls his eyes. "We'll find you two a rainbow."

Ziggy leans in and presses a quick kiss to Dillon's cheek. Lia, to her amusement, watches as Dillon's cheeks go pink. "Thanks, sweetie," Ziggy says, a certain gleam to his eyes.

"Let's go out on an adventure, boys," Lia says, and Dillon pulls the car out of the Garage.

The world outside of Corinth is waiting for them. The three of them, hardware in their skulls and bones but minds free from a virus, are ready to see everything they can and find out who they are again.

Someday they'll make their way back to Corinth, to the Garage and the family they built there. Someday they'll go back to Flynn's smoothies and the twins' explosions. They'll return to see the new school for kids, the progress Meredith has made legally for orphans, Scott's work as commander of the Eagle Squadron. Someday they'll be back, and they know it.

But for now, they're heading out into the great unknown, seeking to find a way to rediscover the parts of themselves that were eaten away by machinery and build new parts where old ones rusted away. They're going to see flowers and rainbows and shadow puppets, make a new world out of the wreckage left behind by Venjix's armies.

Today, the world is theirs to see through their own, uninfected eyes. And at this point, that's plenty good enough for them.

 

 _Pack yourself a toothbrush dear_  
_Pack yourself a favorite blouse_  
_'Cause if we don't leave this town_  
_We might never make it out_  
_I was not born to drown_  
_Baby come on_

**_-Lumineers,_ Sleep On The Floor**

**Author's Note:**

> Totally headcanon that Meredith and Dr. K had a thing after this.
> 
> But in all seriousness, this fic was pretty interesting to write. I love R.P.M. and have been trying to find a way to write it in its original setting for a long time now. All of its characters are wonderful and shippable as heck, and unlike the other Power Rangers series where I have my my set-and-done ships, every new 'verse I write R.P.M. into creates new ships for me.
> 
> But also, I'm pretty proud of how the arcs/story/character exploration went in this story.
> 
> As always, leave a comment or kudos if you liked it! I also always value constructive criticism if you'd like to leave it.


End file.
